HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



121 



who had long served in the army, 

 who had fought and bled for their 

 country. Was it tolerable, that 

 such an accumulation of favours 

 should be conferred on any indi- 

 vidual, without any claim of profes- 

 sional merit, and merely through 

 the operation of undue influence, 

 while so many hundreds of truly 

 deserving men were overlooked 

 and slighted? Was it possible that 

 our arms could prosper — that 

 its spirit could succeed, or 

 its character be advanced, while 

 such injustice was tolerated ? 

 The house must feel the propriety, 

 the necessity, of grounding some 

 proceeding upon such facts. He 

 was sure he had stated quite 

 enough for this purpose. There 

 was indeed one thing to which he 

 could not help alluding. The 

 house must be astonished indeed 

 at the corruption of the times, 

 when told there was at that mo- 

 ment a public office in the city 

 for the sale of commissions, at 

 the same reduced scale as that of 

 Mrs. Clarke, and that the ma- 

 nagers of that office stated in his 

 presence, that they were the agents 

 of the present favourite mistress, 

 Mrs. Carey. Indeed these agents 

 declared farther, that they were 

 also enabled to dispose of places 

 both in church and state, and that 

 they did not hesitate to say, that 

 they were employed by two of the 

 first officers in administration. — 

 There were a few other points, 

 though of very trifling import- 

 ance, that were brought forward 

 in accusation of the Duke of York, 

 not on the present occasion, but 

 afterwards, and this, for the sake 

 of order, that the alleged amount 

 of the Duke's offending may be 

 seen at once, seems the proper 

 place for staling them. Mrs. 



Clarke had stated, that Samuel 

 Carter was her foot boy, and went 

 behind her carriage. He went 

 into the army direct from her ser- 

 vice. In this statement she was 

 corroborated by several witnesses. 

 Another additional case. Mr. 

 Dowler had stated, that Mrs. 

 Clarke had first suggested to him, 

 that she could procure him a situa- 

 tion in the commissary depart- 

 ment. iMr. Dowler, who obtained 

 the appointment, had never taken 

 any step to expedite the business, 

 nor applied to any other channel 

 than that of Mrs. Clarke, to whom 

 he had paid 1,000/. for her influ- 

 ence, and that she told him the 

 duke knew of his doing so. A 

 third additional case : Major Tur- 

 ner, a gallant officer, who had seen 

 a great deal of service, was impeded 

 in his desire to sell out, in conse- 

 quence ofaletterfromMrs. Sinclair 

 Sutherland, notwithstanding the 

 recommendation of the colonel of 

 the regiment. It had been stated 

 by colonel Gordon, the duke's mi- 

 litary secretary, that attention 

 would have been paid to an ano- 

 nymous letter, fraught with such 

 contents on such a subject. But 

 in a case of this kind, an anony- 

 mous letter was better than Mrs. 

 Sinclair's ; for in an anonymou* 

 letter there might have been some- 

 thing worthy of attention. But 

 that in consequence of a letter 

 from such a source as this, a stop 

 should have been put to the course 

 of public business, that a stigma 

 should have been supposed, for a 

 moment, to have been fixed on 

 the character of an officer, for- 

 merly without stain, was unbe- 

 coming indeed. It was an honour 

 to major Turner to have had his 

 character cleared ; but just in the 

 same ratio dishonour fell on the 



other 



